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Michael Ray P.E., CCE, PSP, PMP, F.AACE International, is a civil engineer by education and an engineering consultant by vocation. He started his construction career at the age of 16 as an ironworker apprentice. At 19, he was working on the Greenland icecap. After 30 years with contractors and consultants, he started his own consulting firm in 2001. With two partners, he formed Legis Consultancy Inc. The firm, based in Atlanta, provides consulting in engineering economics, geopolitical effects, corporate strategy and dispute resolution.

Why did you first join SAME?
I joined SAME in 1972 while assigned to the Anti-Ballistic Missile project in Conrad, Montana. An SAME Post had just been formed in this small town (population less than 2,000) and it was a way to extend my professional horizons in rural Montana.

How has your involvement supported you in your personal and professional development?
The monthly meetings of the Atlanta Post, of which I am a member, have afforded me an abundance of professional contacts. These interactions and the speakers have often motivated me to investigate areas of my profession that I otherwise would not have undertaken. A few of my SAME colleagues have become personal friends.

What advice would you give others just starting out in their career?
Join one or more professional societies. Even if you are not an engineer, but work in an engineering relevant business, the contacts you make and the knowledge you obtain can last your whole career. SAME is a particularly good choice in that it is not discipline specific. You’ll have the opportunity to acquaint yourself with a wide range of professionals and projects.

Share something about your career that others may find unique.
The most interesting and unusual experience in my career was my work in Greenland. The company I was working for was building a radar station located on the ice cap on the Arctic Circle. To get to the site, I boarded a C-130 aircraft equipped with skis and after about an hour landed at the radar site. I lived that summer in a tent camp built by the contractor and the only access for personnel, equipment, food, fuel, tools and all construction materials was by ski equipped C-130s.